A biblical view of the cultural and somewhat political Issues of the day.
Someone made this image with the argument that the Bible doesn’t care about the sanctity of life to suggest that it’s okay for humans to take the life of the unborn. These kinds of arguments are based on misreadings of scripture taken out of context.
While rabbits and eggs have no direct connection to Jesus, the word “Easter” is derived from the ancient German word for “rise,” which is synonymous with the concept of rising from the dead; this is the reason we call the direction the sun rises in “east” in English. English is a Germanic language, not a Latin one, so it uses a different word for Easter than Latin-based languages like Spanish and French. Latin languages use a variation of “Pasha,” the Latin/Greek translation of “Pesach.” Pesach is the Hebrew word for Passover, a.k.a “The Festival of Unleavened Bread”. Some argue that Easter is a pagan holiday because it is linked to the Babylonian fertility goddess Ishtar. The connection between Ishtar and Easter is a false cognate. Those language groups aren’t even in the same family, since the word “Easter” is derived from English and German.
Continue readingThis systematic construct of lying to children for no reason can hurt children’s ability to trust their parents. If the parents are lying about where babies come from, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Easter Bunny, then what is to stop a kid from thinking they are lying about God? There are several practical reasons for not teaching kids about Santa Claus, most of which are secular and can apply to anyone.
Continue readingShould Christians celebrate Halloween? The first question is, what is Halloween? Halloween comes from “All Hallow’s Eve,” which was the day before “All Hallow’s Day,” when ancient European Christians would remember the dead. The name “All Hallow’s Eve” changed over time and became “Hallowe’en.” In the early 7th century, Pope Boniface IV consecrated the Pantheon in Rome, a temple dedicated to all the gods of ancient Rome. Instead, they would celebrate all the saints, and the chosen date was May 13th. Later, Pope Gregory III changed the date to November 1st. This change was likely intended to counteract former pagan celebrations that were occurring at the time. Alternative theories suggest that it is based on Samhain, an ancient pagan holiday that the church sought to absorb to facilitate the more straightforward conversion of people. There are various theories about the origin of Halloween, but what is known for sure is that the Roman Church celebrates All Saints’ Day to honor the dead. They later designated November 2nd as All Souls’ Day to honor all the dead. The concept of celebrating or honoring the dead, primarily, is not based on the Bible, so it seems more like an attempt to maintain certain cultural traditions in post-Christian Europe.
Continue readingIs it a sin to talk about sex? The Bible mentions sex a lot. The world has redefined the use of sex into a free-flowing anything-goes framework rather than following the biblical model of being confined to a set-apart couple made of complementary sexes.
Continue readingThe Bible says that God was completely against people doing divination, necromancy, sorcery, witchcraft, and using gemstones as charms because it is deceptive. Let’s look at how He responds to these things.
Continue readingPeople often bring up the idea that Jesus ate with sinners (Matt 9:10-17, Mark 2:15-17, Luke 5:27-32) to justify their sinful lifestyles, but they haven’t read the parts of the Bible where those same sinners rebelled against and even tried to kill Jesus because he called them out for their sins?
Continue readingWhy does the Bible mainly focus on women committing adultery? Numbers chapter 5 describes a purity ceremony that determines if the wife cheated, but there is no equivalent for men. It may be that the classification of adultery differs under a polygamous system.
Continue readingAbraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac can be a highly controversial topic, but let’s explore what is happening here. Abraham trusted that God would keep the promise to make a covenant nation of his descendants through his son Isaac, the promised son of his wife Sarah. If God were faithful to this promise, God couldn’t eliminate Isaac because the covenant couldn’t be fulfilled. Abraham trusted that God would be faithful to the promise, so he went forward with sacrificing him, knowing that Isaac couldn’t be taken forever or God would be a liar and covenant breaker.
Continue readingIn Deut 30:19, God says, “Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live!” Previously, I wrote an article called “Contraception in the Bible”, which may lead some to ask if abortion is a form of contraception. What is the definition of abortion, and does it match the definition of murder?
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